'Hillbilly' author JD Vance aims to invest time, venture capital in home state of Ohio

Sunday

Apr 9, 2017 at 5:00 AMApr 9, 2017 at 11:22 AM

Tim Feran The Columbus Dispatch @timferan

Although he achieved fame as the author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J.D. Vance says that the main reason he is coming home to Ohio has less to do with literary endeavors and more to do with his "day job."

He's a venture capitalist, and it's in that arena that he hopes to make his mark.

"I always wanted to move back, because it's home," said Vance, 32, in an interview. "But I was looking for ways to keep my day job as an investor and pair it with issues I care about. I've talked about these problems and I came to the conclusion that maybe I should be doing something to solve them."

In Hillbilly Elegy, Vance writes about growing up in Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky. In those places, he saw his family deal with job loss, addiction and cultural isolation, issues that have come to the fore in the past few years.

Vance escaped those problems, earning degrees from Ohio State and Yale Law School, then went on to run a neuroscience-focused biotechnology company, Circuit Therapeutics, before becoming a principal at Mithril Capital, a Silicon Valley investment firm.

While he remains associated with Mithril, he has recently joined Revolution, a Washington, D.C.-based investment firm whose co-founders include entrepreneur Steve Case, best known as the founder of America Online.

Venture-capital investments in Ohio are among Revolution's interests.

Vance plans to split time between Washington and his new home in Columbus, where he recently formed a nonprofit called Our Ohio Renewal.

The nonprofit is in its infancy, he said. "But we've identified issues we want to focus on — primarily the opioid crisis, family breakdown and workforce problems. Those are the broad issues we'll work on."

Part of the work will involve some research.

"When drugs move into a family, it's grandparents, aunts and uncles who take care of the kids," he said. "And when you have such numbers as we're seeing, families are stretched to the breaking point. We need to understand the problem a little bit better. It's hard to find numbers, because a lot of the families are dealing with it very informally."

The nonprofit is so new that, despite the fact that its focus mirrors that of the Governor's Office of Appalachia, "I haven't actually interacted with them," he said. "It's really early."

Vance's return home has been characterized by some as a case of a big name success coming to the rescue of a downtrodden "Rust Belt" area. But Vance is aware that Columbus was already on the upswing before he decided to return.

The recent purchase of Columbus health-care technology company CoverMyMeds for $1.1 billion, for example, is "good evidence of a viable business community and a vibrant tech community," he said. "As much as I think about joblessness, I know that investors also want to make money. The fact that CoverMyMeds is doing well shows that companies can do well by doing good."

CoverMyMeds helps patients as well as the health-care industry by automating the prior-authorization process for medications.

"It's not just good as a sign of what's happening but it shows that doing good can pay real dividends."

Vance is also aware that there are other venture-capital organizations making a big impact in Ohio, especially in technology.

"Drive Capital and Rev1 Ventures — these are solid (organizations that) know what they're doing," he said. "To the degree we're not replicating their efforts, it's a win-win."

Vance's entrance into the central Ohio venture capital scene "is another sign that Columbus will continue to be a rising tech star," said Ray Shealy, an entrepreneur and investor who led HTP, one of the first companies to successfully launch after an Ohio TechAngel Fund investment.

"Our region’s strength and attraction is built on a powerful combination of young, educated talent; a vibrant and engaged corporate community; a successful startup ecosystem; and growing access to capital," Shealy said. "Now that our first unicorn has been minted with CoverMyMeds, the gravity to attract more talent like J.D. is only going to increase.

"J.D.’s philosophy — to bring success to regions of the country that have talent, but are behind other regions who jumped on the tech bandwagon years ago — is spot on. I hope this trend continues."

The issues that concern Vance are getting plenty of attention from leaders in the state.

For example, to fight the opioid-addiction crisis, Gov. John Kasich noted in his State of the State speech Tuesday that he is calling for $20 million for research to fight pain and addiction.

The research money is "a good idea," Vance said. "My experience and understanding of the policy world is that we often end up spending a lot of money before finding out how effective the money will be. The $20 million is big enough to learn a lot, but not blow a hole in budget."